In a video shared with The Washington Post, Lockdown founder Johnny Lin visited the Planned Parenthood web site, opened the supplier search, enter a Zip code and chosen “surgical abortion” as a service. As he clicked via the method, a improvement instrument let him see how knowledge corresponding to his IP tackle was being shared with Google, Facebook and lots of different third-party corporations. Only the businesses would know for certain how they use our knowledge, however any knowledge sitting on servers is weak to potential cyberattacks or authorities subpoenas. In a legal abortion case, an IP tackle can be pertinent, as a result of with the assistance of web service suppliers, legislation enforcement can hint IP addresses again to people.
“Let’s be clear: No scheduling or protected health information (PHI) has been breached,” mentioned Diana Contreras, chief health-care officer for Planned Parenthood Federation of America within the assertion to The Washington Post. “Out of an abundance of caution, Planned Parenthood will suspend marketing pixels on webpages related to abortion search, and will be engaging with Meta/Facebook and other technology companies about how their policies can better protect people seeking abortion care.”
Planned Parenthood additionally mentioned that it has a separate instrument for scheduling and confirming appointments that it says is compliant with HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which protects delicate well being information on sufferers) and free from marketing trackers. It doesn’t contemplate the information shared with Google and others to be “scheduling” information, and Contreras added that “it is unconscionable, especially at a time of chaos and confusion in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, to spread misinformation and elevate bad actors who are intimidating and dissuading people from seeking abortion and other sexual and reproductive health services.”
Planned Parenthood’s assertion comes as President Biden prepares a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to broaden protections for individuals searching for abortion information or providers, together with banning unfair or misleading knowledge sharing practices, based on a report from Bloomberg.
Amid fears and questions on how a lot information health-care suppliers and digital knowledge collectors might share about individuals searching for abortions if state governments requested for it, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidance on how one can shield your well being information when utilizing an internet-connected system.
It additionally launched a reminder that HIPAA-covered entities can share protected well being information solely in slender circumstances ruled by HIPAA’s Privacy Rule — for instance, the Privacy Rule “permits but does not require covered entities to disclose PHI about an individual for law enforcement purposes,” the discover reads. But HIPAA doesn’t cowl a lot of the digital knowledge we share surrounding our well being issues, corresponding to our web searches or the information Planned Parenthood was sending to 3rd events.